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Application Properties Overview

While m-Painter allows you to change the look of your applications, Application Properties allows you to control the behavior of your applications.

You can access Application Properties two different ways:

From the Manage Applications screen, click the gear next to your application and choose Edit Properties.

From the "Build & Compile" screen, click this button:

Note: The application must be built to access Application Properties.

While there is some overlap in properties available between Retrievals, Reports, Summaries, and Maintainers, there are also properties that pertain only to certain application types or templates. This document will walk you through some of the most commonly used properties, broken down by the application type and tab the property falls under.

Most Commonly Used Properties in Retrievals

Program Options

debug — Default set to no. By setting this to yes, you are able to view the SQL statement and program parameters at runtime. When an application is not behaving correctly, this is often the first step to try as it will give you a behind-the-scenes-look at the logic of your application.

Advanced Sort — Allows you to enable/disable the option to sort the values in your inquiry at runtime.

Advanced Search — Allows you to enable/disable the option to search for values in your inquiry.

Ajax Items — Allows you to specify how many records returned, if any, after a user types in a partial word in a search field.

Max Rows — Default set to 10. Specify the amount of rows you would like returned on a standard Inquiry. (Not seeing this change take effect, check out the next property.)

Save Max Rows — Default set to Yes. Save the Max Rows value in the users browsing history, allowing them to revisit the page and have this value remembered.

SQL Statement

caseSensitive — By default your application will convert the user's input to uppercase, but will not convert database values. If the data in your database is not in uppercase, this will cause your application to not find records as SQL is case sensitive. If this is your case, be sure to convert both the database value and the user input to uppercase.

max_items — Default number of records that dropdown/radio button lists will contain.

go_lastpage — If a user clicks on the "Last Page" button, this is the last page that will be accessed, even if there are more pages.

remove_counter — When a retrieval takes a long time to return data, consider building an index or turning off the counter. By removing the counter, you can greatly increase the performance of your application.

Most Commonly Used Properties in Reports

Program Options

debug — Default set to no. By setting this to yes, you are able to view the SQL statement and program parameters at runtime. When an application is not behaving correctly, this is often the first step to try as it will give you a behind-the-scenes-look at the logic of your application.

advancedSort — Allows you to enable/disable the option to sort for values in your report.

top_records — Allows your report to stop printing records after this number of records has been processed.

max_records — A governor that limits the amount of records that can be printed in a batched report.

max_web_records — A governor that limits the amount of records that can be printed when a report is run through the browser.

display_splash — Turn on a "System is Processing" screen to let users know their request is being processed. More information can be found here.

edit_type — Default is WYSIWYG. A user can disable WYSIWYG editing for an application by modifying this setting.

SQL

caseSensitive — By default your application will convert the user's input to uppercase, but will not convert database values. If the data in your database is not in uppercase, this will cause your application to not find records as SQL is case sensitive. If this is your case, be sure to convert both the database value and the user input to uppercase.

sequenceby — This options allows the developer to control whether the user can override the default order that was specified at compile time. The default action does not allow the user to modify the order by clause based on what sub-total fields they choose to display.

allowGroupby — Default setting states that if there is an External Object called at the row level or if there is an Application calculation defined, group by will not be activated.

This tab is only used when a Report uses the GROUP BY logic. Group By is only activated when the detail line is not included in the report. This tab helps the database determine how to handle the fields listed here. Developers have four (4) options per field:

Sum — Only available for numeric fields — Will add all detail values within a group and output the summed value.

Avg — Only available for numeric fields — Will compute the average value for this field within the group.

Max — Will take the largest value from the group and output the value.

Min — Will take the smallest value from the group and output the value.

Output Format

This tab allows you to control the default output of your report.

Note: This option is only used when this report is called via the "run=2" parameter.

Non-HTML Output

auto_open — This option allows you to set whether a non-HTML file is opened automatically or the user is prompted for what to do.

saveas — This option allows you to set a different name for non-HTML files generated at run-time.

sv_contenttype — This option controls how to handle csv files generated at run-time.

Email

email_option — Default is set to No. Change setting to yes to allow a user to send reports via email.Note: User must modify the mrc_servlets.properties file to enable emailing capabilities.

email_attach — Default is set to Yes. If your user chooses the HTML output and this option is set to no, their report will be embedded into their e-mail.

sending_go — This is the address the webpage will redirect to after processing the email request.

Print Optimized

pagebreakline — The code listed here is what is used to force a new page in your report.

max_rows — Because your report does not know the size paper you are using, it will print as many records as listed in this file per page. Once the number of records are printed, it will move to the next page. If you find your reports have wasted white space, consider changing this value.

Most Commonly Used Properties in Maintenance Applications

Program Options

debug — Default set to no. By setting this to yes, you are able to view the SQL statement and program parameters at run-time. When an application is not behaving correctly, this is often the first step to try as it will give you a behind-the-scenes-look at the logic of your application.

work_with — Allows you to control how your Work-With Maintainer behaves. Default action is that the list and maintain functions exist on two separate screens.

pageName — The page of your data listing. It is not recommended to modify this value.

pageName1 — The page of your maintain screen. It is not recommended to modify this value.

advancedSort — Allows you to enable/disable the option to sort for values in data listing screen.

advancedSearch — Allows you to enable/disable the option to search for values in your data listing screen.

ajaxitems — Allows you to specify how many rows AJAX returns, if any, after a user types in a partial word in the Advanced Search field.

max_rows — Default set to 10. Specify the amount of rows you would like returned on a standard data listing screen.

allow_add — You can control whether a user can add, add duplicate, or not add records.

allow_update — You can control whether a user can update records or not.

allow_delete — You can control whether a user can delete records or not.

one_step — You can control whether a user has to confirm deleting a record. "One" will cause an immediate delete. "Two" will prompt the user to verify deletion.

goto_add — Allows you to enable/disable the option to sort for values in data listing screen.

act_rule — Default is set to only allow you modify the primary table. Changing this value allows you to modify multiple tables at once. A one-to-many relationship will cause the user to modify all matching records.

delete_confirm — Default is set to ask the user if they are sure they wish to delete a record.

edit_type — Default is WYSIWYG. A user can disable WYSIWYG editing for an application by modifying this setting.

upload_dir — Only used when a field has been set with a User Defined Field Code of "U" in field settings. Controls the location of uploaded files on your Application server.

upload_max_size — Controls the maximum size of an uploaded file.

radio_button — (Single Record Maintenance Applications only) When set to Yes, a user will be able to see a series of "Add, Update, and Delete" radio buttons that they will be able to choose from to control the action of the record.

default_mode — (Single Record Maintenance Applications only) You can control the default action of your application. By default, it is set to add, you can, however change it to Update or Delete.

SQL Statement

caseSensitive — By default your application will convert the user's input to uppercase, but will not convert database values. If the data in your database is not in uppercase, this will cause your application to not find records as SQL is case sensitive. If this is your case, be sure to convert both the database value and the user input to uppercase.

max_items — Default number of records that dropdown/radio button lists will contain.

go_lastpage — If a user clicks on the "Last Page" button, this is the last page that will be accessed, even if there are more pages.

Defaulting Properties

Changing the default selection for a property will affect any application that is built or rebuilt after the change, and can prevent you from having to change the same properties each time you build a new application. To do this, go to the admin menu, select Edit Dictionary Files, and then Dictionary Configuration. Under the Default properties, you have the option to choose a property (after selection an application type and template) and add a default value. This can be done with any property, in any of the m-Power templates.